Entertainment mogul David Geffen interested in buying Clippers

Music and film mogul David Geffen is interested in buying the Clippers if NBA commissioner Adam Silver succeeds in persuading other NBA owners to force a sale of the team, Geffen’s office said Tuesday.

"If the Clippers become available he would be interested in buying the franchise," his office said via email, adding that Geffen was not available to elaborate.

Geffen, with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $6.2 billion, reportedly tried to buy at least a controlling stake in the Clippers in 2010 but was rebuffed by owner Donald Sterling.

Silver, responding to controversial remarks about blacks purportedly made by Sterling, issued sweeping sanctions against the owner Tuesday. Sterling was banned from any association with the team for life and fined $2.5 million.

Silver also said he would urge the league’s other owners to force a sale of the team.

Another billionaire, real estate developer Rick Caruso, told the L.A. Times on Monday that he also would be interested in leading or joining a new ownership group for the Clippers.

Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981 for $12 million, but the club is now worth at least $575 million and is the league’s 13th most valuable franchise, according to Forbes’ annual list of NBA team valuations.